1. Field
Aspects of embodiments of the present invention relate to Schottky structures and junction designs.
2. Description of Related Art
One difficulty encountered in GaN (gallium nitride) Schottky diodes is the reduction of the reverse leakage current. When using Schottky metals such as nickel (Ni) and platinum (Pt) that have Schottky barrier heights of less than 1 eV (electronvolt) on GaN, significant leakage current may arise when a reverse bias is applied to the diode. Using a p-n junction instead of a Schottky junction to form the diode may overcome this problem. For example, a GaN p-n junction has a barrier height of about 3 eV. This large barrier can significantly reduce the reverse leakage current. However, the drawback is that a forward bias greater than 3 V (volts) is needed to turn on the diode for forward conduction. The large turn-on voltage translates to undesirable large conduction power loss. As such, it would be desirable to achieve both low reverse leakage current and low turn-on voltage concurrently (e.g., simultaneously).